1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of entering objects into an electronic device comprising a display screen, and particularly to a method and apparatus for entering objects, such as graphical characters, into a small or portable electronic appliance which does not have a conventional alphanumeric keyboard with discrete keys. More specifically, the invention relates to an efficient system for entering objects from a large set of objects when the surface space that is available for entering the objects is relatively limited, such as on a cellular telephone, or in a personal digital assistant. The present invention also relates to a computer program product comprising software code portions for achieving the system, and a method for entering objects into a small or portable electronic appliance when said product is run on a computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the proliferation of the number of small or handheld electronic appliances has brought many challenges to users who want to efficiently enter data into the memory of such devices. For example, consider the many different types of devices, such as, personal digital assistants (PDAs) (also known as personal information managers); personal communication devices (e.g., mobile phones); laptop personal computers; multifunctional remote controls; web-tablets, to name a few, which help users store and organize information. Lately, the trend has been towards an ever-increasing reduction of the size of such devices. However, this reduction of size has resulted in the problem that data entry into these devices is often very difficult.
It is commonplace to provide these kinds of devices with various systems for facilitating text input. One system commonly used with mobile phones is to let each numerical key of the mobile phone represent up to four characters, which enables the user to input a specific character by depressing the appropriate key a number of times corresponding to the desired character. In the case of personal digital assistants, a text entry system based on handwriting interpretation, often requiring the user to apply a specific writing style, has been commonly used. Other appliances provide, on a touch-sensitive screen, a virtual alphanumeric keyboard for character input, which the user uses, often with a stylus, to select characters for input.
One prior-art approach to providing a graphical text entry system has been to display a graphical text entry wheel on a graphical text entry screen. A plurality of characters is positioned on the graphical text entry wheel. The system also includes a pointing device for rotating the graphical text entry wheel to allow a user to select one of the characters on the graphical text entry wheel to be entered. After selection of one or more characters, the graphical text entry system may provide suggested subsequent characters or words as aids for text entries. A system of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,542 to Sony.